Things get Spicy in New Mexico

My suitcase and I had our first real fight this past weekend while visiting New Mexico.  The fight was centered around a cactus… yes a cactus!  Now, let me explain myself before you judge. 

So I have never really been a big shopper.  I don’t see the need to accumulate useless crap.  In my mind, it’s all just junk that is going to end up in the neighborhood yard sale in a few years.  With that in mind, I found myself in Santa Fe, New Mexico over the weekend.  Now for those of you who have never been, “downtown” Santa Fe, it is a plaza.  Literally a Plaza.  While charming and unique, there is not much to do there.  I happen to have three hours to tackle this town by myself, which is what brings me to the shopping. 

The downtown area has some real cute shops that sell some interesting products.  Let me tell you, if you are in the market for boots, hats, or Native American jewelry…you have come to the right place!  Perhaps the most interesting thing I saw there was the assortment of hot sauces!  The names on the sauces made me laugh out loud!  They had alien sauce, hemorrhoid sauce, and diaper sauce. 

It was just passed the hot sauce when I found it: the holy grail of dumb gifts.  It was a cactus back scratcher!  I had to have it…a long stick with a prickly little cactus that had eyeballs on it- priced at only $8.99!  Umm…who could resist?  Not me!  It seemed harmless at the time, so I walked out, holding my head high and proud of my new purchase.

So the stupid cactus ended up in the trunk of the rental car for the next few days while we drove to Albuquerque.  Now Santa Fe may be a plaza, but Albuquerque is a street.  Yes, the downtown area is ONE main street.  Needless to say, we saw all of downtown in about a half hour.  As you may know, I get bored easily and so one street for 24 hours is not gonna do the job for me.  Thanks to some lovely recommendations, we dined at the infamous “El Pinto” restaurant which has been visited by several famous politicians.  Ahhh... southwestern food with chile sauce....Yummy! 

Another recommendation brought us to the tram ride up the top of the Sandia Mountains.  $20 will get you a round trip ride up the world’s longest tram ride (I think that is what the sign said) up the “watermelon” granite mountains.  We even saw wild buffalo and hot air balloons on the way, which for some reason seemed exciting at the time.  

Okay so now the trip to NM was over (what do you expect in a long weekend?) and it was time to head home.  I packed my suitcase as I have done hundreds of times before.  Only this time, I was shoving trinkets in it from Santa Fe, one of which was the cactus back scratcher!  Uh oh- my suitcase was suddenly full, the zipper wasn’t gonna budge.  So here I was, at the airport fighting with a stubborn (and cranky) suitcase with a dumb ass cactus staring at me (it has eyeballs).  This was a full-fledged fight, a battle, a war!   The battle raged on for several minutes and after a few creative packing moves (and ryans suitcase) I got that piece of junk packed for the plane!  I am not proud of my behavior that day, but after much perseverance, I won!!  Ha Ha- I showed him… that suitcase won’t mess with me again.

Final score:  Suitcase- 0, Jill -1  (he he)

P.S.

Three things I learned about New Mexico:

1.     They take their hot sauce seriously

2.    They take their margaritas seriously

3.     Seriously?  That’s it!!  What do you expect to learn in 3 days? 

Next stop … NYC!!

The Story of the Silly Suitcase

I want to introduce you to my suitcase.  He (yes it’s a “he”) was purchased in Ft Myers Florida about 6 years ago at a TJ Maxx.  He went from sitting on a dusty shelf, minding his own business to this crazy life where he never gets to rest!  I mean seriously.  I am constantly cramming it full and shoving it into over-head bins.  I’ve lugged it to Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.  Not to mention jet-setting nearly every other weekend across America.  The poor thing even has a squeaky wheel because he’s old and tired.  With all this activity, he’s developed quite the sense of humor.  Sometimes when I am packing, I can imagine the suitcase is sarcastically saying things like “not that dress again” or “we’ve seen that outfit before.” 

The smartass suitcase is right; I tend to pack the same key pieces on every trip. But you know what?  I have some breaking news for you: the people in the new city I visit haven’t seen that outfit!  Even if they have, I am not traveling for a fashion show, I am traveling to experience new places and meet new interesting people.  The crazier, the better!  Let me tell you: there are some wackadoos on the loose out there!

So who am I?  I am not so sure- but I can tell you who I am not.  I’m not a travel writer … heck, I am not even a writer!  I’m not one of those granola girls who has quit her job and chosen to live 3 years in youth hostels in Europe (although I do have travel envy when I read their blogs).  I’m not searching for anything such as the “best food truck” or “undiscovered beach houses”.    I am an average 30 something chick (not a very cool one) who happens to have the fortunate opportunity to be able to see new cities thanks to my boyfriend, Ryan.

You see, he travels for work and I am a travel sponge.  I sponge off his free trips and take advantage of his work opportunities.  Unfortunately, I have a real job and I have to work there as much as possible in between trips so I have to pick and choose the good ones.  After doing this together for 4 plus years, I have fallen in love with seeing as much as possible!  Experiencing the cultures, cuisines, and landscapes has given me “ants in my pants” – wanting to get out and see more. 

Blah Blah Blah ….. Enough about me!  The sole purpose of this blog is to share some of my pictures and adventures with friends, family, co-workers, and anyone else who is creepin’ on this site!  To show people that you don’t need a 7 day trip to have a great time.  You just need yourself and a suitcase- one with a sense of humor doesn’t hurt either. If you still have a pulse and you got nuttin’ to do, then stay tuned for some upcoming stories from me about Charleston, New Mexico, Montreal, New York, and Vegas!! 

Okay- I did it... I wrote my first blog!  As you can see, I am still getting my page up and running, so any comments, suggestions, and criticism is appreciated!  Seriously!

Jill Hepokoski